MINNEAPOLIS—Northwest and Delta airlines won preliminary approval on Wednesday to effectively operate as one carrier over the Atlantic, sharing money from the flights and coordinating schedules.

The tentative approval from the Department of Transportation also covers Air France-KLM, Alitalia and Czech Airlines. A final order is due April 30.

The antitrust approval won’t have any direct impact on the combination talks between Northwest Airlines Corp. and Delta Air Lines Inc. But the ability to work together and share profits over the Atlantic would give them some of the benefits of a combination, at least in their Atlantic flights.

Northwest President and Chief Executive Doug Steenland said the antitrust immunity should lead to more nonstop trans-Atlantic flights, shorter travel times, and expanded growth opportunities for Northwest.

The Transportation Department found that the alliance was in the public interest because it’s likely to give travelers lower fares and more nonstop and connecting flights. It said the Open Skies agreement that went into effect March 30 would ensure the U.S.-Europe market remains open. The agreement grants greater freedom to European carriers to fly to the U.S., and vice-versa.

Glen Hauenstein, Delta’s executive vice president for network planning and revenue management, said the approval “offers significant advantages to customers including more choice in flight schedules, travel times, services and fares.”

To win antitrust approval, Northwest and Delta had to promise to coordinate only trans-Atlantic operations. They’re still expected to compete everywhere else. In their application last year, the two airlines told the Transportation Department they would train workers about what contact was permissible between the two carriers.

The application was opposed by AMR Corp.’s American Airlines, which said it would reduce competition. American has a code-sharing agreement with British Airways but they lack the antitrust immunity that would let them share revenue.

Northwest and KLM were the first airlines to win such permission 15 years ago, before KLM’s merger with Air France, which had an agreement with Delta.

Indeed, Air France-KLM wrote in the joint antitrust application that “immunity is now necessary so that those two carriers can continue their integration and realize the full benefits of their merger.”

They seemed to suggest that without antitrust immunity they would drop either Northwest or Delta, writing that “neither Air France nor KLM wants to face a choice of U.S. alliance partners in order to realize the full benefits and efficiencies of their merger.”

Northwest and the other SkyTeam airlines withdrew their first antitrust request in January 2006 after the Department of Justice opposed it. The Justice Department did not file comments on the renewed application.

The opposing comments from the earlier application were signed by Bruce McDonald, then a deputy assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division at Justice.

“It sounds like the airline did their homework and were able to come back with convincing information,” said McDonald, who is now a lawyer with Jones Day.

So does this mean that Justice could be expected to smile on a full merger of Northwest and Delta?

“That’s reading too much into it,” McDonald said.

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